Probability of death,disability, and restricted work activity in United States underground bituminous coal mines, 1975–1981

This study examined relationships between mine and miner characteristics and severity of 82,945 underground bituminous coal mine injuries using logistic regression techniques. Injuries were classified as severe if they resulted in death, disability, or restricted work activity. Supervisory and maintenance personnel were found to have fewer chances of severe injuries than “all other” job classifications. A shaft or slope had a lower association with severe injuries than the face. The probability of a severe injury increased each succeeding year from 1975 through 1981. Mining method was not related to degree of injury. Older miners had the same probability of severe injuries as younger miners. Weeks of experience in mining, on a particular job, and in a specific mine were not related to severity of injuries. Mobile equipment operators had the same chance of severe injuries as miners in “all other” job classifications. Accidents at intersections and “other” locations were as likely to produce severe injuries as those at the face. Elapsed shift time prior to an injury was not related to injury severity. The implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations made for future research.     

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in two species of marine top predators from England and Wales

During an earlier study, polybrominated diphenyl ethers were detected at high concentrations in fish and sediments downstream of a manufacturing site in NE England. We have now undertaken analysis of 14 tri- to heptabromodiphenyl ether congeners in tissues of two species of marine top predators exposed to these compounds through their consumption of fish. In this paper we report data for 47 cormorants and 60 harbour porpoises from England and Wales, sampled during the period 1996-2000. Concentrations of the summed congeners ranged from 1.8 to 140 microg kg(-1) wet weight in cormorant livers, and from not detected to 6900 microg kg(-1) wet weight in porpoise blubber. The major congeners present were generally BDE47, BDE99 and BDE100. There was little correlation between concentrations of chlorobiphenyls (as the sum of 25 individual congeners) and the sum of the 14 BDE congeners determined, particularly for the porpoises.     

An estimate of predation rate and relative preference for algal versus crustacean prey by a spongiose skeletal radiolarian

Solitary radiolarians (Spongodrymus sp.) in laboratory cultures consumed ¹⁴C-labeled Amphidinium carteri and Coccolithus huxleyi more than Isochrysis galbana or Thalassiosira fluviatilis. The ratio of A. carteri protein consumed per unit time to the amount of Artemia sp. nauplius protein consumed (P/Z) was 6.7×10^-2 indicating that these omnivorous radiolarians tend to consume more zooplankton protein than phytoplankton protein.     

Foliar injury air pollution surveys of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.): A review

A thorough review and critical evaluation of field surveys from 1900 to the present of foliar injury to Pinus strobus L. supposedly caused by air pollution was undertaken. Ninety percent of the surveys failed to meet current scientific standards of acceptability. The conduct and peer review of surveys has been poor and the correct injury symptoms have not always been used. Data were obtained for nine that met screening criteria and injury incidence and severity were mapped. Three fourths of the counties in the natural and planted range of eastern white pine have not been scientifically surveyed, so generalizations regarding large-scale spatial patterns of eastern white pine foliar pathological conditions were not possible. However, recent growth and inventory data indicate that growth throughout the natural range regardless of air pollution or other stresses (e.g. blister rust) is excellent, suggesting that regional performance and foliar conditions are unrelated. Sufficient compelling corroborative evidence was found to conclude that a general decline of eastern white pine throughout its range is not a tenable finding.The putative air pollution sensitivity of eastern white pine appears to be based on studies published between 1963 and 1973 on hypersensitive individuals that are no longer being observed in the field. More recent research on eastern white pine has noted a lack of sensitivity and/or high variability of response. The idea that eastern white pine as a species is highly sensitive to air pollution is no longer supported by the available evidence. However, hypersensitive juvenile individuals comprising no more than 8–9% of the total population may still germinate and grow for a brief period of time (because old enough parent trees are still alive) but soon succumb to current levels of ozone and sulfur dioxide in the environment or are suppressed by tolerant neighbors. This phenomenon has been documented anecdotally and is more aptly called tree decline instead of forest decline. An emerging working hypothesis to explain recent reports of unusual eastern white pine tolerance is that sufficient time has elapsed for tree decline to have occurred leading to a gradual elimination of sensitive genotypes from populations.     

建筑产品与生命周期思考

生命周期理念,在与建筑和建设部门的关系中,特别应该进行建筑产品分析、在提高建筑物能源效率并为经济繁荣有所贡献的时候,这些产品发挥着基本的作用,已经做出的要算披露,在从自然索取的物质资源和产生的垃圾总量中,有一半来自建筑部门,为了对建筑产品的影响进行和理并把综降到最低,就必须利用生命周期的方法对所产生的影响进生检测,本文评论了生命周期理念并思考了最新的发展.材料与可持续建筑,环境产品宣言,所体现的能源以及北方与南言建筑产品评估中产生的差异,都是要讨论的话题.     

Consequences of dominance: a review of evenness effects on local and regional ecosystem processes

The composition of communities is strongly altered by anthropogenic manipulations of biogeochemical cycles, abiotic conditions, and trophic structure in all major ecosystems. Whereas the effects of species loss on ecosystem processes have received broad attention, the consequences of altered species dominance for emergent properties of communities and ecosystems are poorly investigated. Here we propose a framework guiding our understanding of how dominance affects species interactions within communities, processes within ecosystems, and dynamics on regional scales. Dominance (or the complementary term, evenness) reflects the distribution of traits in a community, which in turn affects the strength and sign of both intraspecifc and interspecific interactions. Consequently, dominance also mediates the effect of such interactions on species coexistence. We review the evidence for the fact that dominance directly affects ecosystem functions such as process rates via species identity (the dominant trait) and evenness (the frequency distribution of traits), and indirectly alters the relationship between process rates and species richness. Dominance also influences the temporal and spatial variability of aggregate community properties and compositional stability (invasibility). Finally, we propose that dominance affects regional species coexistence by altering metacommunity dynamics. Local dominance leads to high beta diversity, and rare species can persist because of source-sink dynamics, but anthropogenically induced environmental changes result in regional dominance and low beta diversity, reducing regional coexistence. Given the rapid anthropogenic alterations of dominance in many ecosystems and the strong implications of these changes, dominance should be considered explicitly in the analysis of consequences of altered biodiversity.     

Birds in agricultural mosaics: the influence of landscape pattern and countryside heterogeneity.

Agricultural environments are critical to the conservation of biota throughout the world. Efforts to identify key influences on the conservation status of fauna in such environments have taken complementary approaches. Many studies have focused on the role of remnant or seminatural vegetation and emphasized the influence on biota of spatial patterns in the landscape. Others have recognized that many species use diverse "countryside" elements within farmland, and emphasize the benefits of landscape heterogeneity for conservation. Here, we investigated the effect of independent measures of both the spatial pattern (extent and configuration) and heterogeneity of elements (i.e., land uses/vegetation types) on bird occurrence in farm-scale agricultural mosaics in southeastern Australia. Birds were sampled in all types of elements in 27 mosaics (each 1 x 1 km) selected to incorporate variation in cover of native vegetation and the number of different element types in the mosaic. We used an information-theoretic approach to identify the mosaic properties that most strongly influenced bird species richness. Subgroups of birds based on habitat requirements responded most strongly to the extent of preferred elements in mosaics. Woodland birds were richer in mosaics with higher cover of native vegetation while open-tolerant species responded to the extent of scattered trees. In contrast, for total species richness, mosaic heterogeneity (richness of element types) and landscape context (cover of native vegetation in surrounding area) had the greatest influence. These results showed that up to 76% of landscape-level variation in richness of bird groups is attributable to mosaic properties directly amenable to management by landowners. Key implications include (1) conservation goals for farm landscapes must be carefully defined because the richness of different faunal components is influenced by different mosaic properties; (2) the extent of native vegetation is a critical influence in agricultural environments because it drives the farm-scale richness of woodland birds and has a broader context effect on total bird richness in mosaics; (3) land-use practices that enhance the heterogeneity of farmland mosaics are beneficial for native birds; and (4) the cumulative effect of even small elements in farm mosaics contribute to the structural properties of entire landscapes.     

A legal assessment of private land conservation in South America

Privately protected areas (PPAs) are a potentially innovative conservation tool. Legal recognition is necessary for their success, especially where there are institutional challenges to nature conservation, such as in South America. Although PPAs have increased in South America since the early 2000s, there is a critical information gap pertaining to their legal frameworks. We analyzed the level of landowner commitment to and governmental support for PPAs across countries in South America that officially recognize PPAs. We analyzed the legal framework governing PPAs and reviewed literature on them. This process was done in English and Spanish. The information we gathered was validated by 16 conservation experts from 10 South American countries. Because Peru is 1 of only 2 South American countries where local communities create and manage PPAs, we studied Peruvian PPAs in more detail by examining official creation documents and interviewing 13 local conservation professionals. We found inadequate minimum duration of PPAs and vague guidelines for conducting economic activities within them and a lack of governmental support (e.g., financial and technical support) for PPAs. Support was limited to the exemption from rural property taxes, which are relatively low compared with countries outside South America. In Peru, PPAs run by individuals and communities needed different legal frameworks because they were created with different objectives and had different sizes and duration of commitments. The prompt improvement of legal frameworks across South America is necessary for PPAs to achieve their aim of being places for enduring nature conservation in the region.     

Equity trade‐offs in conservation decision making

Conservation decisions increasingly involve multiple environmental and social objectives, which result in complex decision contexts with high potential for trade‐offs. Improving social equity is one such objective that is often considered an enabler of successful outcomes and a virtuous ideal in itself. Despite its idealized importance in conservation policy, social equity is often highly simplified or ill‐defined and is applied uncritically. What constitutes equitable outcomes and processes is highly normative and subject to ethical deliberation. Different ethical frameworks may lead to different conceptions of equity through alternative perspectives of what is good or right. This can lead to different and potentially conflicting equity objectives in practice. We promote a more transparent, nuanced, and pluralistic conceptualization of equity in conservation decision making that particularly recognizes where multidimensional equity objectives may conflict. To help identify and mitigate ethical conflicts and avoid cases of good intentions producing bad outcomes, we encourage a more analytical incorporation of equity into conservation decision making particularly during mechanistic integration of equity objectives. We recommend that in conservation planning motivations and objectives for equity be made explicit within the problem context, methods used to incorporate equity objectives be applied with respect to stated objectives, and, should objectives dictate, evaluation of equity outcomes and adaptation of strategies be employed during policy implementation.